Vera Moray
Vera Moray, also known as Granny Rags, was a wealthy aristocrat living in the high reaches of society who, after an ill-fated expedition to the Pandyssian Continent, became a practitioner of black magic and descended into madness. During the events of Dishonored, she is a homeless and blind old woman who is often harassed by her fellow citizens, specifically members of the Bottle Street Gang. While she appears on the surface to be vulnerable, destitute, and senile, her true and darker nature lies underneath. She is a powerful and partially immortal witch who, like Corvo Attano, employs supernatural powers that were granted to her by the Outsider. Biography Born Vera Dubhghoill sometime near 1765, she married Lord Preston Moray around 1790,Dishonored: The Dunwall Archives becoming the revered wife of the head of the Moray family (which was, at the time, similar in wealth and prestige to the Perth, Inchmouth, Carmine and Boyle families). It is noted by the OutsiderOutsider Shrines/Speeches that Vera was once a well-known figure at court; she received marriage proposals from a great variety of men, including Emperor Alexy Olaskir in 1780. She also personally notes that of her many friends, she was the only one to be painted by Anton Sokolov when he was first coming to prominence.The Journal of Granny Rags When she did marry, she and her husband traveled widely "to the far ends of the Isles." In 1807,she joined her husband on an expedition to the mysterious continent of Pandyssia. The expedition was marked by madness and death, which started when Vera took an interest in the practices of the continent's ancient peoples. This is where she first came into contact with the Outsider, and during her journey, she received the Outsider's Mark.The experience caused Vera to lose her sanity and later go blind. In 1814, she killed her husband,Dishonored: The Dunwall Archivesusing his bones to create runes and bone charms.The Journal of Granny Rags At some point, Vera gained a level of immortality by binding her soul to a cameo of herself, an act taken from her husband's journal notes concerning an ancient Pandyssian legend. On her return to Dunwall, Vera's circumstances spiraled into misfortune—she lost her status in high society and began living on the streets. She officially became Granny Rags in 1815. According to Slackjaw, when he was a young child, Vera was already well known as Granny Rags. ''Dishonored'' Granny Rags provides Corvo with two secondary missions during his quest to kill Thaddeus Campbell, the High Overseer. Her first mission requires that Corvo deal with a group of "gentlemen callers" who have come to collect protection money from her. The second involves infecting their elixir still with the rat plague from viscera found at the Offices of Dr. Galvani. Both may be accomplished non-lethally; however, infecting the elixir still increases chaos, and will lead to the appearance of weepers at the Dunwall Whiskey Distillery during the House of Pleasure mission. Corvo later comes across Granny Rags' secret lair deep in the Dunwall Sewers during the mission The Flooded District, where she is preparing to murder, cook, and eat Slackjaw. Corvo can choose to assist Granny Rags, or engage her and save Slackjaw. Although she does not appear in person, Granny Rags is also the author of four more side objectives in The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches DLCs. Granny Rags' Cameo Granny Rags conducted a ritual on a cameo of herself, enchanting it so that as long as the cameo exists, she can never truly be killed. As a younger woman, Vera Moray first discovered the idea when perusing the field manuals of an explorer who studied a colleague’s interpretations of Pandyssian carvings. According to his journal, the explorer noticed Vera’s interest. Unwisely, he attempted to reprimand her, thinking such interest was unseemly for a woman of her station. It is implied that the explorer met an untimely fate at her hands. Afterwards, she bound her powers to the cameo through unknown rituals. The cameo is kept hidden beneath a pair of plush red pillows on a bed near an incinerator in Granny’s quarters at her underground lair during the mission The Flooded District. Skills If Granny is fought in the sewers, she can be observed using Blink, Devouring Swarm and Windblast. She also possesses the ability to summon a thick cloud of mist. However, unlike other characters associated with the Outsider, she is not resistant to most of Corvo's powers. Rats summoned with Devouring Swarm will not attack her, however, and she will thank Corvo for summoning more of her "little pretties." She is able to create runes with an ability given to her by the Outsider.Empowering the Player in a Story-rich Environment: Co-Directing Dishonored notes She also fashions instructions on rituals used to create runes, and the Assassin Daud notes that each time he interacts with one of her talismans, "a tiny piece of him departed and settled in with her." It is uncertain what she gains from this act.Cobbled Bits of Bone Trivia *She is voiced by Susan Sarandon.''Dishonored'' Credits § Voice and Music *After Corvo completes her first task, Vera insists he leave so that she may feed her "birdies." She will exit her house to a small backyard area—Corvo can peek through the keyhole of the back door to see her "birdies," revealing them to be plague rats. *She cannot be harmed as long as her cameo, a small trinket hidden underneath her pillow, remains intact. When it is destroyed, Vera can be killed with a single hit, or rendered unconscious. **If Corvo attempts to kill or render Vera unconscious before he has access to her cameo, her body will turn into a pack of plague rats, which will then attack him. She will be unharmed by the attempt and will make future appearances as normal. **Granny's Cameo is identical to the Boyle Cameo found during Lady Boyle's Last Party. *Co-creative director Harvey Smith has confirmed that Vera was canonically killed by either Corvo or Slackjaw during their encounter in the sewers.Developer Commentary – Granny Killed *The Royal Interrogator met her as a boy and through her was introduced to worship of the Outsider. *Apart from the Outsider, no characters appear to be aware of Vera's true identity, referring to her only as Granny Rags throughout the course of Dishonored. *If Corvo ignores Granny Rags during the High Overseer Campbell mission, the door in the sewers will be already open and the path to her lair will be blocked. This allows Corvo to complete the mission faster; however, he will miss several important items, such as books, a rune, and a Sokolov painting. The fate of Slackjaw in this circumstance is unknown. *Early on in the High Overseer Campbell mission, she tells Corvo that Dr. Galvani is her doctor. *It is stated by Billie Lurk that Granny Rags is rumored to be 100 years old. **In the Dunwall Archives, however, she is revealed to be around 72. *It is strongly hinted that Vera is the enemy that Crowley believes is trying to take down the Bottle Street Gang, before being killed. *Vera's maiden name, "Dubhghoill", is a combination of the two modern Irish words "dubh" meaning 'black', and "ghoill" meaning 'upset'. However, the name most likely originates from the old Irish term "Dubhghaill", meaning "dark foreigners" or "dark strangers". Many modern Scottish and Irish surnames such as Dougal, Douglas and Doyle have been derived from this name. **According to Harvey Smith, the Dubhghoill line is from Morley. Gallery Cedric-peyravernay-grannyrags00.jpg|Concept art. Granny concept.png|Concept art of Granny Rags. Granny rags concept.jpg|Concept render. Granny rags concept2.jpg|Render of Granny Rags. Granny rags concept3.jpg|Full-body render of Granny Rags. Vera Moray face render.jpg|Granny Rags face render. Granny Rags Ingame.png|Vera Moray, as Granny Rags. Granny Balcony.png|Granny Rags on the balcony of her house. Ragsblink.png|Granny Rags blinking. Granny rags01.png|Granny Rags in her house. Grannnny.png|Granny Rags has a proposition for Corvo. Granny shrine.png|Granny Rags in front of her Outsider shrine. Granny Rats.png|Granny Rags, feeding her "little birdies". 01 granny.png|Granny Rags. Vera Moray Dishonored.png|A closeup of Granny Rags. House of pleasure7.png|Granny in her second home. Granny Rags and Slackjaw.jpg|The final confrontation between Granny Rags and Slackjaw. Granny soup.png|Granny Rags in front of her tub of soup. 03 granny.png|Granny Rags and her soup. Blindblink.gif|Granny Rags blinking in her lair (GIF). Summonratty.gif|Granny Rags calling rats from the Void (GIF). Flooded district, granny rags and slackjaw.jpg|Granny Rags and Slackjaw fight each other. Cameo Bed.png|Granny's cameo, found on her bed. Cameo Furnace.png|Granny's cameo in the furnace. Tarot vera moray.png|Vera's tarot card in the Special Edition Tarot Deck. Granny symbol03b triangle.png|A symbol by Granny Rags. Granny symbol02c circle.png|A symbol drawn on the ground by Granny Rags. Granny symbol 01b tree.png|One of Granny's symbols - a tree. Granny symbol04 rat.png|One of Granny's symbols. References de:Vera Moray es:Vera Moray ru:Старая Ветошь pl:Vera Moray it:Vera Moray zh:薇拉·莫里 Category:Female Characters Category:Enemies Category:Allies Category:Aristocrats Category:Mark Bearers